CIVIL WEDDING OF ISRAELI CITIZENS IN GREECE

In the previous years, according to the Greek legal framework, a variety of supporting documents – as a small sample of the Greek bureaucracy – were required in order for the competent Municipality to allow a civil wedding of a foreign person in Greece. More specifically, the competent municipal Registries of the Greek Municipalities asked of the interested parties to show through public documents their permanent or temporary residence in Greece, birth certificates, passports, etc., as well as a wedding license already issued by the competent authority of their country or in any case a document stating the absence of impediment of the persons concerned, in order to marry each other in accordance with the law of their country.

The above was and is still the procedure for foreigners who wish to have a civil wedding in Greece. However, the same did not apply to Israeli citizens who would request this to the competent Greek authorities. More specifically, the interested Israelis could issue most of the necessary documents for filing an application to a Greek municipal register, but not all and not sufficiently, so that the authorities to allow them to perform a civil wedding in Greece. In particular, under Israeli law, there is no provision for the issuance of a wedding license, religious or civil, nor a certificate of absence of impediment of the persons concerned, so that they can marry each other. The only relevant document that they would be able to issue would be certificates of celibacy, from the competent authority of their birthplace. Therefore, the Greek authorities would consider the supporting documents insufficient and would therefore reject the request for a civil wedding of Israeli citizens in Greece.

This is the reason why until today, in no Municipality within the Greek territory a civil wedding of Israeli citizens has taken place until today. It should be noted that throughout the European Union, similar weddings are allowed only in Cyprus and the Czech Republic, countries that have passed through the above bureaucratic problems accepting the existing supporting documents that can be submitted by those interested.

Civil wedding of Israeli citizens in Thessaloniki, Greece

In view of the above and in an attempt to overthrow the existing regime, our law firm applied to the Magistrates Court of Thessaloniki which issued the no. 141 ^E / 2021 decision according to which the private and family life of the individual is inviolable, while according to the provisions of the Constitution, the family as the foundation of society as well as wedding, motherhood and childhood are under the protection of the State, while the human rights as an individual and as a member of society and the principle of the social rule of law are under the guarantee of the State. All state authorities are obliged to ensure their unimpeded and effective exercise, while any restrictions that may be imposed on these rights under the Constitution must be provided either directly by the Constitution or by law.

The recognition and protection of fundamental and inalienable human rights by the State aims at the realization of social progress in freedom and justice. Furthermore, every person is entitled to be respected for their private and family life. Upon reaching the age of wedding, a man and a woman have the right to marry and to found a family in accordance with their national law. In addition, according to the Greek regulations, the foreigners must enjoy the civil rights of the natives.

Therefore, if a foreign couple have all the necessary documents as they meet all the legal requirements, they are unmarried, and at the same time it is impossible to present a permit or certificate of impediment of wedding (which does not even exist in Israel principles), the Greek state through its institutions shall show flexibility and breadth of choices to the interested parties, so that they are able to proceed with a civil wedding in Greece. So the Greek state must realize that when it is impossible in any case for foreigners to submit the relevant wedding license or certificate, this should be replaced by the corresponding responsible statements and official declarations.

Taking into account the above, after our law firm’s application the Magistrates’ Court of Thessaloniki issued the relevant wedding permit to the applicants, Israeli citizens, allowing them to have a civil wedding in Thessaloniki, replacing the documents that do not exist under the law of their country with responsible statements, which will state the necessary information about their non-impediment to prevent wedding.

The issued decision is an innovation considering the Greek regime of civil weddings for Israeli citizens. Therefore, according to Greek jurisprudence, foreign citizens with permanent residence in Israel are now given the opportunity to have a civil wedding in Greece, by submitting the necessary documents and responsible statements to the relevant Department of the Municipality in which they are interested in having the wedding.